Journal-box lid



Jung -7,1927. 1,631,352

s. A. wooDMAN JOURNAL BOX LID Filed April 1. 1918 readily opened whennecessary to-pobtain'ac- Patented June 7, 1927.

uni-run ST A eno'nsn A. woonivmn, or oI-IIoAeo, rumors.

Y *J'OURNALQBOX Lin.

Application filed April 1,

invention relates to journal-box lids primarily intended for use inconnection with railway. car ournal b'OXes.

One of the principal 5 tion; is the provision objects. of my invenof alid-which, while securely held in. closed position to exclude foreignmatter from the journal box, maybe cess to the box.

1Further objects of invention are the provision of a simple andrelatively inexpensive strueture which operates without binding and.which,

opening. 1n

thoroughly seals the the journalrbox. 1

Further objects and advantagesof myinvention reside in thevarlouscombinations hereinafter described as will be apparent as Litvisbetterunderstood following? specification when-read .111

the

by reference to 1 connection with the accompanying drawing, illustratingthe preferred embodimentthereof, in which Fig. 1 s a vertical sectionthrough :the

lid anda portion I Fig. 2 is affront elevation of the: follower; Fig. 3is a side elevation and of the journal box of the follower,

Fig. 4 is asectionillustrating a slightly different Referring to thedrawing, journal box which or usual form and form of'my invention H 5indicates a may be'of any preferred construction; The journa-l box isprovided with the usual opening permrttingaccess to the interiorthereof,

which is normally closed bya lid 6, pivotally supported on a pintle 7mounted in a lug 8 on the'upper wall of the journal box.

The lid 6 is provided with a housing 9 to receive a coiled spring 10 anda follower 11, which is held in engagement with the face of the lug 8 bythe spring. i is provided with wings notch 13 at its The follower 11 12at its sides and a top. -The wings 12 rest on the fins 14, formedon theinterior face of the housing 9. A fin 15 is also formed on the interiorface of the housing at the top thereof and engages the notch 13. Thefollower 11 is thus supported on the fins 14: and guided at the top bythe fin 15, and I have found that this structure provides guldlng meansfor insuring rectilinear movement of the follower towards and away fromthe lug 7 and thereby prevents binding of the follower as it moveswithin the housing during the operation of opening'or closing the lid.

The lid 6 is provided with spaced lips of opening 1918. .Serial No.225,891.

16', adjacent its edges to both sides of the edges of the opening in thejournal box 5. Thelips 16 thoroughly seal the open ing and prevent theentrance of cluster other foreign matter.

The'front race 17 of the 1.1;; a is formed to provide a convex,cylindricallsurface I portion-eccentric to: thepivotal axis of the lid,V and the co-operating face of thefollower 11' is preferably providedwithaconcave, cy-- lindri-cal surface. conforming substantially P to thesurface, 17.

surface 17 mergesnear its bottom into the rounded shoulder 18 and atits-topinto a rounded shoulder 19.3 Theconcavc surface of the follower11 preferablyjmerges into the shoulder 20,which, when the lid isclosedunderlies the: shoulder 18 and assists in locking the lid "n closedposition. I havefound thatby providing an eccentric convex, -cy-:lindri-cal surface on the lug 8, theoperation and closing the lid ismaterially facilitated without destroying the effectiveness of thefollower and spring-as a, means for holding the lid inclosed'gposi-tion.

Preferably, the convex In Figure a of the drawing, Ihaveillus- 1 trated,a slightly different; form of my invention in which the upper front-faceofthe lug 8 is provided, at 21, with an: eccentric convex, cylindricalsurface portionwhich merges preferably made to conform substantiallytothe surfaces .2-1'and. 22, and ashoulder 25 underlies the shoulder '24:when 'the lid is closed position, ,The remainingparts of the structureare the same as those previ ously described in connection with Figure 1and are correspondingly numbered in thedrawing. 3

The operation of the structure will i be readily understood from thefollowing brief 00 description thereof. When the lid is in closedposition, the parts are disposed as indicated. in Figures firmly locked.WVhen, plied to the lid, the to slide over the eccentric convex,

however, force is apcylindrical face, the spring 10 being thereby compressed, until the follower passes over the shoulder 19 in Figure 1 orthe upper portion of the cylindrical face 21 in Figure 4:. In thisposition the spring 10 is permitted to expand and thus holds, the lidfirmly in raised position.

downwardly into a flat surface 22, l avingi a shoulder 24L at its lowerend. .T V e ,co -1 erating.surfacesof.the'follow'er 11 are 1 and 4,.andthe lid is follower 11 is caused From the foregoing, it will be readilyunderstood that I have perfected a journalbox lid which is normally heldin closed position and which may be moved with a minimum of efiort toopen position to permit access to the box. My invention overcomesVarious changes may be made in the form, construction, andarrangement-of the parts without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention or sacrificing any of its material advantages, the formshereinbefore described being merely preferred embodiments thereof.

I claim:

1. A journal box having an upstanding lug, a lid pivotally mounted onsaid lug and provided with a housing, the front face of the lug havingan intermediate convex portion eccentric to the pivotal axis of the lid,a bodily movable follower slidably mounted in the housing and guided forrectilinear movement towards and away from the lug, and a springyieldably maintaining the follower in frictional engagement with thelug, the follower having a contact face portion conforming to the convexportion of the lug for facilitating the operation of opening and closingthe lid.

2. A journal box having an upstanding lug, a lid pivotally mounted onsaid lug and provided witha housing, the front face of the lug having anintermediate convex portion eccentric to the pivotal axisof the lid andterminating in a lower shoulder, a bodily movable folldwer slidablymounted in the housing and guided for rectilinear movement towards andaway from the lug, and a spring yieldably maintaining the follower infrictional'engagement with the lug, the follower having a contact faceportion conforming to the convex portion of the lug for ders, a bodilymovable followerslidably mounted in the housing and guided forrectilinear movement towards and away from the lug, and a springyieldably maintaining the follower in frictional engagement with thelug, the follower having a contact face portion conforming to the convexportion of the lug for facilitating the operation-of opening and closingthe lid, said contact face of the follower having a lower shoulderunderlying the shoulder of the lug in the closed position of the lid tohold the lid closed, said shoulder of the follower overlying the top'shoulder of the lug in the open position of the lid to hold the lidopen.

4. A journal box having an upstanding lug, a lid pivotally mounted onsaid lug and provided with the housing, a bodily movable followerslidably mounted in the housing and having a contact face portion infrictional engagement with the lug, there being a slidable supportingengagement between the upright sides of the follower and the shoulderunderlying 1 inner walls of the housing, the top of the housing having adepending fin, and the top of the follower having a guide notchreceiving the fin.

GEORGE A. WOODMAN.

